Kelly was an all-city ice hockey selection in high school while playing for Madison East and he has said that his hockey background may have hurt his golf early in his career, because of the aggressiveness it encourages him to bring to his game.[3]

For the first time in his PGA Tour career, Kelly finished outside the valued top 125 on the tour's money list, ending the 2012 season just $1,809 out of a full Tour card. He also finished 2012 as the 25th highest earning PGA Tour golfer in history. Instead of going to Q School (where his finish would have placed him directly into the final stage), Kelly played the 2013 season using a career money list exemption, nineteen places higher on the PGA Tour priority ranking list than the 126-150 category (Priority Ranking 29).